Break Not the Promise
by Nagia
Summary: Silver Knight.  Mimiru.  A relationship that never should have happened.  Thirty ways it did.  [30 moments] [Ginkan x Mimiru, you have been warned.] [Nonchronological.]
1. bending the rules

**So The Tree Will Grow**

_Delta: Hidden—Forbidden—Holy Ground_

She is wandering through the cathedral, her movements at times odd, jerky leaps and at times lithe, easy strides. Dark hair, dark skin, swathed in burgundy and gold—she does not belong in this place, she is not solemn enough for this place. This is a holy ground, a place of ethereal beauty, of the subtle interplay of light and shadow. Fictional as she is, she seems all too _real_ for this place.

Their presence here seems almost irreverent. Impious. The part of him that has been _Silver Knight_ for so long, the part of him that sometimes surfaces even when he is in his video store, says that they should not be here. That part of him that is Chiba Isshin doesn't mind.

"So where are you?" Mimiru asks, touching one hand to the chains that bind down the cathedral's statue.

He frowns. "I am right here."

She laughs. "I know; I can see you. But what if I wanted to see_you_?"

He is silent for a while. Silver Knight knows he should walk away, should show her that he will not break the rules for her. Chiba Isshin doesn't want to. He wants to stay.

As a result, the character stays still for one agonizing moment. The next instant, he decides.

He says the words he _should _say: "Giving out personal contact information within the game is strictly forbidden." Softens those words with, "And I shouldn't… I can't break the rules for you."

But then it only takes a few steps to cross the room. He places his hand above her shoulder, just inside her field of vision. She turns to look at him and he freezes up. Something is so real, so _alive_, about her eyes. How can her eyes emote so much?

_Don't disappoint me_, her expression whispers. _This is my heart; please don't break it._

He shouldn't say anything. He should leave this moment a Knight's regretful denial. He shouldn't open his mouth.

"I live in Higashikurume. It's a little under an hour's ride from Tokyo," he says almost before he knows what he's saying.

"Higashikurume? I know a few people there!" She says. "Is your video-store in Higashikurume, too?"

She's sixteen. He's twenty-three. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't say anything. What would his family think? What would _her_ family think?

"No, it's in Ikebukuro. I work from four to midnight on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays."

Mimiru laughs and claps her hands together. Her soul is gone from her eyes, banished back to her heart where it belongs. "And I should come visit you sometime, right?"

Isshin freezes. No, she absolutely very definitely should not come visit him. Especially not during work hours. He doesn't really need the distraction. But it's not as if they're ever _really _busy; it's a run-down hole in the wall at the top of a rickety staircase. No neon, no customers.

"Only if you wish to."

It isn't exactly an invitation. But it isn't the order to stay away that he_should_ give, either.

He's already bent so much for her. His drive to re-create the Knights. His zeal to enforce the rules of _The World_. And now, his willingness to abide by the rules of reality. He's bent so far.

This is as far as he bends.

To his chagrin, in his mind, her voice laughs, F_or now_.


	2. breakfast nook

**Alarm**

Saturday. Nine o'clock.

He doesn't realize that it's a Saturday when he first opens his eyes—he knows only that it's nine o'clock. The blinking red letters stare down at him, disapprove of how much he's slept in. He has a ten o'clock appointment with a professor and his neighbour's car is out of commission! He'll have to walk the first leg of the journey to campus! He doesn't have _time_ to sleep in until—

Oh, that's right. He went to that appointment yesterday.

Chiba Isshin shakes his head and groans at how early he woke up. Then he remembers that Mimiru—he means Megumi, he reminds himself, when they aren't online he should call her Megumi—is coming to visit him today.

He didn't wake nearly early enough. He glares at the clock, at the alarm that apparently went off and just didn't wake him.

As he folds up his bed, he ponders what to do about the "can't see the kitchen for the dirty dishes" situation. His apartment is immaculate other than that—he's normally a tidy person and he's been cleaning it all week in preparation. But he wants to have breakfast as well, and he only has an hour.

So, he'll wash dishes, and if he has time left, he'll eat a quick breakfast. Maybe a granola bar and some milk out of the—wait, he can't have milk out of the carton; milk is one of Megumi's favourite drinks.

He almost wants to swear as he stares at a granola bar and a mountain of dishes.

EL FIN.


	3. lighting the way

**Idea**

_Impulsive._ That's the first thought that comes to mind when she laughs and says, "Let's go for a walk!" It's part of what he loves about her, though.

"It's dark outside," he says. "And cold."

She laughs more. "We'll wear coats! I'll go get the flashlight."

Isshin thinks back to _The World_, the days when he spent hours levelling up a character that was more habit and fantasy than a source of entertainment. He had a reasonably important role in the game, still has one, actually, but she always seemed to be having more fun. (Still does, actually, he thinks with only a little resentment.)

She leans over and flicks on the outside light. In the shadows, her face looks younger, the way she did when they first met, and suddenly it's hard to believe she'll be graduating college, earning her Bachelor's, in just a few months.

"You win," he says, throwing up his hands. "Let's go."

EL FIN


	4. lemony fresh

**Clean**

The afternoon sunlight filters in, casting him in just the perfect light. His silhouette falls into the room from where he stands in the doorway. The line of his body is a picture of tired, of the special good soreness that comes from working too hard. His hair and shirt are clearly damp, though she can't tell if it's from sweat or from water.

Megumi takes a quick look around. No other students or teachers around, so she grabs one of his buckets and lifts his hand to her lips. (He gives a shocked, stammering protest, but she just smiles at him and he shuts up.)

His skin has the smell she has always associated with a good bout of cleaning: a mixture of sweat and lemon disinfectant.

She kisses along his knuckles—more silly, stilled protests from Isshin—and smiles up at him.

"You're welcome," he breathes, just before they separate.

"Toyoguchi-kun!" A peer shouts. "We've finished everything except the cafeteria!"

They separate and suddenly it's back to cleaning.


	5. grocery shopping

**Hard Questions**

His mother raises an eyebrow at the box Isshin puts in his basket. He flushes a little, somehow acutely aware of the fact that she wouldn't be here, shopping with him, if she weren't visiting. Because of her presence, he has left out a few crucial items. And still she objects to his choices.

"Mother, please." Isshin sighs. "I'm a grown man. I'll eat what I choose."

She frowns at him. "You're a grown man who has hated sugar for breakfast since he was nine. Are you living with somebody we haven't met?"

He looks at the box of cereal he just pulled from the shelf. And true, it's a sugary-sweet cereal. He can feel the sudden onset of Type II diabetes just holding the box in his hand. But the box is pink and burgundy with pale gold swirls and she's a sweet tooth if he ever knew one.

"No, Mother. I just saw it and it reminded me of someone I know."

She wrinkles her nose at him. It's an expression so perfectly her, so classically, uniquely Chiba Kanau that for a moment he feels nine again. "Isshin-kun, you're a graduate student! Can you really spend money on something you won't even eat?"

And that makes him feel silly enough that he puts the box back, continues shopping, but his mental Mimiru rolls her eyes so hard that later, when he goes back for those crucial items, he buys the cereal anyway.


	6. petting the cat

**Art of Purrsuasion**

"And so Dad was all, 'We are _not_ getting the cat and that is final'." Mimiru sighs, folds back into a seated position.

For a moment, Silver Knight's eyes glow. "What did you do?"

She looks over at him. A smile, sweet and sinful, whispers a secret along her lips. "I picked the kitten up, cuddled him and made him purr."

He looks back at her. He can easily imagine her soothing a fat little ball of fluff, her hands smoothing its soft fur. Petting it until it let out an irresistible little rumble.

"Did it work?" Isshin finds himself almost expecting it to have worked. Surely her infectious spontaneity convinces other people. He cannot possibly be the only person she persuades.

But Mimiru sighs, fingers trailing along the nonexistent grass as if she were stroking some phantom animal.

Immediately, he knows what her answer will be. Almost does not need to hear her say, "No," to know that she failed.

It seems, he reflects as he watches imaginary breezes blow imaginary kites, that he is her primary victim.


End file.
